Denpasar Bali Airport

Just visited Bali after vowing never to return 3 years ago. Had read all the reviews about the new airport so was very anxious. We arrived at quarter to midnight on AFL grand final Friday night. We had purchased visas from very friendly staff were there were ample staff. Hopped into the lines for immigration and went oh no as the lines were massive. We were out the front of the airport meeting our friends half an hour later after finding lots of immigration desks open and very friendly staff. Our return was even more pleasant straight through check in and immigration. Plenty of wonderful places to Buy food shop sit etc. we certainly found that it was not an unpleasant airport experience by a long shot. Well done Bali on your upgrade.

Poor service dirty windows floors horrible toilets. That airport is the worst in that part of the world. And one of the most expensive. Sadly it's impossible to avoid this place. Not the best gateway to beautiful Bali. We waited 3 hours in the Q for a passport control after arrived. They should try put customers on the first place.

Flew into Denpasar early afternoon on Virgin from Brisbane. Almost no queues to pay for VOA but was confronted with a very lengthy snaking queue for immigration. We had 2 small children in a party of 5. At first the line was moving and it appeared we would clear immigration in approx 1.5 hours but that was before the immigration booth numbers were reduced to half. Don't know why but the immigration officers just walked off with even more flights having arrived after ours. About 30 minutes later extra immigration staff arrived and opened up some more booths. We cleared immigration in 2.15 hours and then collected our luggage which had been loaded off the carousel. Very tiring and stressful - not a great welcome to Bali. I had heard all the horror stories which sadly became true on this occasion. Our subsequent 4pm departure was an absolute breeze. Am returning in Jan 2015 so hopefully will have a better arrival experience.

Arrived midday on Thai from Bangkok and the airport was in utter chaos. The lines to immigration snaked around forever. Airport agents were offering to take people to the front of the line for 'only' $10! Otherwise we waited and waited while immigration officials came and went and waited and waited. It took 1.5 hours to get through immigration. A nightmare welcome to this otherwise dreamy island. Leaving the country was much more organized and much faster.

Arrived on a Virgin flight Friday 5th September 2014 at around 3pm. Took 3 hours to get through the visa/customs debacle. Left on Monday 15th September 2014 and took 40 mins to check in go through all of the checks and find our departure gate which did change 3 times while we waited but thanks to these reviews we were prepared and just sat it out and listened to the announcements. Take plenty of rupiahs to the airport - food and coffee is very expensive. I bought two sandwiches and two mango smoothies and then did not have the $30.00! I don't know what the solution is to avoiding the busy periods on arrival - maybe travel agents have a heads up on "good" times to arrive and avoid the longest queue I have ever seen or been in in my life. Oh and my husband went off to see if he could "pay" for a faster entry and was told yes - $100 each to jump the queue which we declined more for fear of crowd rebellion than the exorbitant price.

Read some of the other reports on the new airport in Bali and some of the reports are ridiculously inaccurate. We arrived 3.5 hours early and ready for battle only to find great signage impossible to get lost loads of food options at about 3-4 large cafe/restaurant/bars with ample seating sure they are at typical airport prices but comparable to any international airport in Aus/South Pacific pleasant temperature typically polite and friendly service staff. Yes they work at Balinese speed but don't forget you're on holiday! So get over it! So in terms of what to expect at the main entry there aren't really good food options other than snacks at a WH Smith you will go through one security screen (no queue for us) then check in. Pay your departure tax at 2 easily identified booths before customs/passport control. One more security screen (where now you do have to ditch your water) with your carry on and you're then into the main plaza where there are loads of shops (which are at eye watering prices after the kuta market!) and plenty of eating options. We are about to head to our gate now which is a 2 min walk) sure we may see another security screen but they're hardly an issue. Yes the arrival is a bit more tedious with massive room but only a handful of passport control people but with 3 flights arriving at once we still only had about an hour and we were through. Be mindful of the uniformed "porters" who will grab your bags in the baggage claim area unless you're ready to tip them and then we'd recommend head straight to the taxi booth where it took us about 5 mins to sort a cab at what is a reasonable price (or go and haggle with one of the multitude of freelance drivers who will try it on with the 1st 2nd and 3rd prices they offer you). Really can't see what the fuss is about.

Arrived at 3pm on 03-09 from Amsterdam via Hong Kong together with other flights from Australia. Queuing for a visa was quick but rather long for immigration- over an hour. The question is do we want all airports to be like Singapore-Changi? I definitely do not as this is what all travelling is about experiencing different cultures and circumstances. If you find this unacceptable than staying at home is an option as the queues are not going to move any faster.

After reading all the reviews I was expecting the absolute worse. Landed on a Saturday evening and overall took Due for a 2.45 arrival on a Thursday landing delayed as we had to sit in a holding pattern for over 30 mins. 1.5hr wait to get through immigration word is that you can't purchase the VIP pass anymore to get through quicker but you can go up to someone and pay then and there if they are in a good mood. I was already 4 lines into my wait when I found this out so didn't want to risk it. Flying business or having premium FF gets you nothing on arrival at this airport every foreigner queues together. On top of all of that took an hour to get to Seminyak. Departure was a completely different story. 20 min drive from same Seminyak location at 6pm on a Monday. Waited 5 mins at priority check in (here I was provided an entry card to the temporary lounge) around the same to pay the departure tax (yes it's annoying but most if not all other imports have this it's just built into the taxes when you book your flights!) then maybe 15 mins at immigration? In there there's also 2 security check points that had less than a 3 min wait. Decent sized duty free but pricey from what I saw (alcohol in Australian airports is cheaper). The temp lounge was packed could probably fit 100 or so people seated. Food selection consisted of sandwiches vegetables soups fried rice salads and some fruit. Refreshments include sodas water beer and wine as well as hot drinks. Severe lack of power points which seems to be a growing trend these days. I walked past 3 food outlets to get to the lounge but can't comment on the quality or selection. If is written this review based purely on arrival you'd see 1 star but I'll bump it up a bit because of my departure experience.

Just over the whole place I visit Bali at least 7 to 8 times a year and sometimes only for three days but having to spend so much wasted time at a dysfunctional airport both in and out that seems to be getting worse even through it cost more to enter and exit. Why is the departure tax cost not included in the ticket like most other airports? Then its up to the airline to hand over the fees instead of passengers waiting in yet another unnecessary line. Its amazing that this airport was officially opened in August 2013 yet its still under construction and still has no proper air line loungers only a poorly fitted out premier lounge with stale food and uncleaned seats with staff who mainly just stand around rather than looking after the lounge. So its seems that if you just clap your hands and smile all the problems will go way or at least this is how the airport management deal with things.

New airport is much worse than the old one. Much of it still seems unfinished with a confused and confusing layout. Few staff are apparent and the immigration staff are the rudest I have met. An officer with little grasp of English grilled my wife at the desk about wanting to work in Bali for no apparent reason at all. If this is the introduction to Bali it will put people off visiting. The exit is via duty free and on leaving you enter via duty free just to try to squeeze the last rupiah from your fingers. On departure the food is over priced garbage. All this and the increase to $35 in the arrival tax and 200000 rp departure tax - obviously not spent on the airport.